Judge Lifts Housing Restrictions on Barry Beach

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Barry Beach can now live unsupervised as the Montana Supreme Court mulls a state request to reinstate his conviction for a 1979 Poplar murder.

Beach was released last year to live with supporters after a judge said new evidence cast doubts on the original conviction and he ordered a new trial. State prosecutors are appealing that decision to the state's high court.

But Judge E. Wayne Phillips wrote in a decision this week that Beach has done well since his release. The judge says Beach may now live on his own.

Prosecutors unsuccessfully argued that Beach is a flight risk because the Supreme Court could rule against him.

The Montana attorney general's office argues new evidence supporting Beach's release was unreliable and fueled by years of rumor-mongering in Poplar.